Associations of insecure adult attachment style, trauma-related social cognition, and emotion regulation difficulties with PTSD symptom severity among first responders who served during Hurricane Harvey.

Abstract

First responders play a vital role in the response to natural disasters and are at a disproportionate risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms following these events. The association between attachment style and PTSD is well-established and has been documented among first responders. Understanding the social cognitive and affective factors implicated in the association between insecure adult attachment style and PTSD symptoms among first responders has the potential to inform specialized treatments for this population. The present investigation examined the serial indirect effect of insecure adult attachment style (i.e. attachment avoidance; attachment anxiety) on PTSD symptom severity through trauma-related social cognition and emotion regulation difficulties (ERD). The sample was comprised of 115 first responders (Mage = 42.25, SD = 10.38, 80.0% male) who served during Hurricane Harvey and were recruited to complete an online survey in 2022. Attachment avoidance was indirectly related to PTSD symptom severity via the sequential effects of trauma-related social cognition and ERD (β=.13, SE = .07, CI = .02-.29). The model including attachment anxiety as a statistical predictor was not significant (β = .10, SE = .07, CI = -.01-.27). These findings suggest that there is value in examining the role of social processes and emotion regulatory factors among first responders to inform evidence-based PTSD intervention efforts.